Coldplay's long-awaited third studio album, "X&Y," will be issued June 6 internationally by Parlophone, and the following day in the United States via Capitol. The first single, "Speed of Sound," will be serviced to radio in April and arrive May 23 at retail.

"X&Y" was recorded over the past year with Danton Supple (Morrissey, Elbow), Ken Nelson (Badly Drawn Boy, Kings Of Convenience) and members of the band on production duties.

"We wanted to try new things out, to move our sound along," comments Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland, "but the focus remains on the songs, and Chris [Martin]'s voice is sounding amazing. Everyone is playing at the top of their game."

Coldplay scrapped its first batch of new material last summer, after it had begun rehearsing the songs for a planned tour. "We realized that we didn't really have the right songs and some of them were starting to sound better because we were playing them than they did on record, so we thought we better go back and record them again," Martin recently told BBC Radio One.

"X&Y" will be supported by the band's largest world tour, starting June 15 at Volks Park in Hamburg, Germany. Among the bands confirmed to support at various points are Doves, Interpol, Elbow, Supergrass and Morning Runner.

"These dates are just the tip of the iceberg," EMI Music senior VP of international marketing Mike Allen tells Billboard.com. "It's simply the beginning of a world tour which runs 2005-2006, so there's an awful lot more to come."

As previously reported, Coldplay will make its first public live appearance since 2003 tomorrow (March 12) during a KCRW benefit at Los Angeles' Universal Amphitheatre. In addition to its April 30
headlining appearance
at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., the band will play a rare club show the night before in Las Vegas.

Sources say another club show is on tap in New York, similar to a gig at the city's Bowery Ballroom around the release of Coldplay's 2002 breakthrough, "A Rush of Blood to the Head."

'Sound' To Precede Third Coldplay Album

Coldplay's long-awaited third studio album, "X&Y," will be issued June 6 internationally by Parlophone, and the following day in the United States via Capitol. The first single, "Speed of Sound," will be serviced to radio in April and arrive May 23 at retail.

"X&Y" was recorded over the past year with Danton Supple (Morrissey, Elbow), Ken Nelson (Badly Drawn Boy, Kings Of Convenience) and members of the band on production duties.

"We wanted to try new things out, to move our sound along," comments Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland, "but the focus remains on the songs, and Chris [Martin]'s voice is sounding amazing. Everyone is playing at the top of their game."

Coldplay scrapped its first batch of new material last summer, after it had begun rehearsing the songs for a planned tour. "We realized that we didn't really have the right songs and some of them were starting to sound better because we were playing them than they did on record, so we thought we better go back and record them again," Martin recently told BBC Radio One.

"X&Y" will be supported by the band's largest world tour, starting June 15 at Volks Park in Hamburg, Germany. Among the bands confirmed to support at various points are Doves, Interpol, Elbow, Supergrass and Morning Runner.

"These dates are just the tip of the iceberg," EMI Music senior VP of international marketing Mike Allen tells Billboard.com. "It's simply the beginning of a world tour which runs 2005-2006, so there's an awful lot more to come."

As previously reported, Coldplay will make its first public live appearance since 2003 tomorrow (March 12) during a KCRW benefit at Los Angeles' Universal Amphitheatre. In addition to its April 30
headlining appearance
at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., the band will play a rare club show the night before in Las Vegas.

Sources say another club show is on tap in New York, similar to a gig at the city's Bowery Ballroom around the release of Coldplay's 2002 breakthrough, "A Rush of Blood to the Head."

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